Looks like a Benvenuti proposal behind the Hotel Berry. Was this proposed in the last 80's and why did it fail?

Nicely done! It's on the Greyhound terminal site and was done in 1989 and failed as the construction economy went into its most recent recession (before the current one.) That and Benvenuti would never have pulled it off anyway, IMHO. He just wanted a pretty picture to try and get investors excited. The third through ninth floors were all parking.

Yeah, Benvenuti had about 7 or 8 towers proposed back then and this looked
like one of them... when I have some time, I'll try to find some of the others
he had in the works from the late 80's. Do you have any others Daverave?

Yeah, Benvenuti had about 7 or 8 towers proposed back then and this looked
like one of them... when I have some time, I'll try to find some of the others
he had in the works from the late 80's. Do you have any others Daverave?

Nope, this is the only one he let me do.
It was fun although I knew it would never go anywhere. Actually it's my favorite project type: all design, no CDs, no risk, except for the risk of not getting paid. I recall it took a looong time to get the money from him.

Proposed on October 2004 the Towers on Capitol Mall was expected to be built
at 3rd and Capitol Mall. Towering 22 stories over Sacramento’s current
tallest, the Wells Fargo Building, it seemed like downtown's housing market
was ready to go vertical. If built, it would have be Sacramento’s first
high-rise to use a "performance-based" concrete design. The Towers drew
more than 4,000 pre-qualified potential buyers from an interest list of 17,000.
In the first sales event for the Towers Saca invited 250 to put a deposit
down and sold 280 units, making nearly $2 million in one weekend. Many of
the piles hit solid ground at different depths, leaving a hodgepodge of
different length piles sticking out the ground. Saca previously told The Bee
these piles would have to be sawed off -- an unexpected expense. Saca
was very close to meeting the Deutsche Bank requirement that he presale
400 units and had collected non-refundable deposits on 383 units as of
November 2006 since sales began, there were 27 cancellations.

The project stopped construction in January 2007 when a former contractor
and the buildings' architect filed liens against John Saca for $7.3 million in
unpaid bills. Saca’s efforts to reconstruct a workable budget and secure his
construction financing failed. Skyrocketing construction costs were also to
blame for the shutdown.

Mayor Heather Fargo expressed reservations about whether the western end
of Capitol Mall was right for such lofty structures.

The Jibboom Street Power Station project
Proposed Feb. 2006 and died Oct. 2006
Developer: D.R. Horton
Architect: Mogavero Notestine Associates
Owner: City of Sacramento
# Of Units/Density: Total Units: 203 / Units/Acre: 81
15-story condominium tower
Along the Sacramento River just north of Old Sacramento
Cost to build $130 million
295 condos
400 Parking spaces
1,400 civic amphitheater
Major park component
Subsidy for rehabilitation of Power Station Building
Subsidy for parking structure
City owned amphitheater

The former power plant was built in 1912 and has not been used for nearly
half that time. The building’s oil-fired turbines ran until 1954, when the
facility was closed. Shortly thereafter it reopened as a junk yard. The State
closed the junkyard in 1965 after it acquired the site as part of the
construction of I-5. Cost of renovating the power plant in 2000 was
estimated at $6.5 million and the cost has surly risen since then. The cost
would have been much higher if the State and Federal Government hadn’t
already spent $5.2 million to clean up the former Superfund site. Much of
the money to clean up the site was recouped from former customers of the
junkyard which caused the contamination with lead, copper, zinc and low
levels of polychlorinated biphenyls.

Capitol Towers
September 1988
$300 million development
Four 26-story Office/Residential/Retail/Hotel towers
7th & O Street
1.4 million square feet
200,000 sf office tower
70,000 sf retail
3,000 parking spaces
250 room hotel tower
200 unite apartment
Proposed by an east coast family: The Scheuer Family Trust
Construction was expected to start in 1990 with a new tower built every two years.

As part of the project, the trust would have given $100,000 to community
housing groups to spend as needed on city housing projects. The project
got the typical objections by current residents in the Capitol Towers as well
as City planners concerned with traffic problems with other developments
planned near by. The Proposed California Capitol Center on R Street was also
in the planning stages and also had plans for both office and hotel at a cost
of $250 million. The Capitol Towers proposal failed due to not landing a big
state office tenant which would have qualify the project for a loan to start construction.

As recent as March 2008, a Los Angeles based developer proposed five
residential towers ranging from 15 to 33 stories and 1,646 housing units.
Financing for the newest proposal was to come from the financial giant AIG Inc.

The complex is now 93 percent leased with rents from $875 for a studio to
$2,165 three bedroom unit.

I'm glad to know that whenever I feel like I'm not depressed enough I can always come to this thread.

Too funny Ryan. I get the same type of vibe on those occassions when I reminisce about girls past that I had a chance with and somehow botched the opportunity. Ugghh the heartache. Let's see you turn that into a thread innov8

Too funny Ryan. I get the same type of vibe on those occassions when I reminisce about girls past that I had a chance with and somehow botched the opportunity. Ugghh the heartache. Let's see you turn that into a thread innov8

Its an interesting thread, and depressing to me as well. I wish we were posting more stories of progress...

Too funny Ryan. I get the same type of vibe on those occassions when I reminisce about girls past that I had a chance with and somehow botched the opportunity. Ugghh the heartache. Let's see you turn that into a thread innov8

Botched opportunities... that's for sure. Both R Street and the corner of
15th & K saw a total of five major towers fall due to the city changing the
rules with height and zoning requirements while the developers were in the
entitlement process. I'll dig up some info and rendering to post later.

Back in 2005-2006 the County invited a limited number of architects to
compete for a significant site on I Street between 7th & 6th street in
downtown Sacramento. The Library Lofts ended up winning the Counties
support for the location. At the time, the county thought residential was a
good direction - only to have DR Horton pull out soon after.

With this proposal 700i, a proposed substation at the base would have gave the
Sacramento Police Department a presence in the Central Business District
and an approachable identity for the department. The generous public plaza
provides large pubic art for people to enjoy. I really dig this design and shape,
it's to bad it never saw the light of day.

I still think the Expo/Arden area is a great place for a "second downtown" of high-rise projects--something like Century City in Los Angeles. Consolidate all those parking lots into one parking structure, put up a couple towers, add residential mid-rise/high rise nearer the freeway (and thus nearer to the dramatic views of the river) and a fixed-rail transit loop up Expo and down Arden to link it to Light Rail and downtown. Think of it a bit like Century City.

To contribute, here's a drawing from an early 20th century plan for a civic center around Plaza Park (now Cesar Chavez Plaza) from 1916 that never got built: